A Dream Within a Dream
by Katra21
Summary: Returning to the Labyrinth Sarah finds herself in the middle of a power struggle between Jareth... and Jareth? The Goblin King's divided soul can only be healed by the gentle touch of a girl whose barely realized what love is.
1. Forward Motion

**A Dream Within a Dream**

**

* * *

**

A/N: Woot, this is it people, the sequel to Chasing the Proverbial Dream, and the last forseeable story in this trilogy that began with King's Curse. This chapter took a while, mostly got caught up in some of the phrasing. This is also the first time I'd had such a long chapter, over three thousand words, and hopefully this will be the goal for every chapter to follow. I began finding that the two thousand word chapters were feeling a little short for me, although they feel a lot longer in Word prgrams than they do online. In any case, this chapter was mostly inspired by playing too much Psychonauts, an excellent game. I hope to wrap up any lose ends left by the very open ended Proverbial Dream, and the smaller mysteries left from King's Curse. The best thing to inspire me to continue writing faster is reviews, I'm pretty sure its the same way for anybody, but I felt I couldn't leave this story unposted to create buffer chapters so I'll be relying on your encouragement to get me trucking. So, review please.

**

* * *

Chapter One**

**Forward Motion**

* * *

A soft jingling like Christmas bells filled the air, something was tickling Sarah Williams' nose. She opened her eyes, blinking a couple of times at the tiny child-like face that stared at her with a bright and innocent smile. Gasping Sarah sat up, sending the little fairy plummeting until the tiny glass-like wings caught enough wind to carry the fairy up again flying into Sarah's line of vision with an angry pout.

"Sorry," Sarah said gently, for a moment her mind swirled, she felt displaced, only after a minute once she had remembered the strange dance that included so many fairies, dancing, whirling, spinning around herself, and around Ludo. It had felt like her mind was peeling open, and so was Ludo's. "So this is Ludo's mind?" The fairy's head tinkled as she nodded vigourously, but Sarah still looked around dazed, what had happened before that? The last thing she could remember clearly was Ludo helping her through the window of the black facsimile of the goblin castle.

Ten tiny fingers wrapped around Sarah's index finger, the fairy tugging the girl along. Out of her internal struggle, it didn't really matter, what mattered was the here and now in Ludo's mind.

Sarah whirled around, trying to take in as much of her surroundings as she possibly could. It was Ludo's mind after all, his mind was technically the same age as Toby's, and it reflected it. Everything here was exaggerated; everything to Ludo was either a toy or a monster, the epitome of good or bad, right or wrong. So like a child.

The soft jingling of Christmas bells tickled Sarah's ears again, Sarah turned her attention to the little fairy and the direction that the miniature child pointed. On the ground was a map of the Labyrinth it what appeared to be crayon. The little fairy belt down prodding the doodle with some unknown purpose, almost frantically until with almost teary eyes she looked up towards Sarah.

"Please don't cry," Sarah said quickly before bending down over the maze, "What is it that you're trying to do?" She reached towards a piece of crayon outlining, and felt the waxy strip crumple in her hands, the diagram was like a giant carpet that the fairy simply wasn't strong enough to lift up. The fairy continued to try pulling it up, although Sarah did the actual lifting, until she'd revealed a large pitch black hole. Sarah dropped the picture of the labyrinth to one side and looked into the hole, dangling her fingers precariously into it. Then the fairy flew in, glowing softly in the darkness.

"I guess I have to," Sarah said, dangling one leg into the hole, then the other, she couldn't see her feet for the darkness, and couldn't feel any ground beneath her. Still, the little fairy tugged on her pant leg. With a quick breath to boost her confidence Sarah closed her eyes and dropped into the hole. It didn't feel like she was falling, but Sarah hadn't felt her feet land, but opening her eyes she found herself standing in front of a pair of very familiar doorknockers. The familiar pair, one with a ring in his ears, the other with a ring in his mouth, somehow it warmed Sarah's heart to see them, just as she remembered them.

"It's very rude to stare," the chubby one to the left pouted.

"It's good to see you again too," Sarah said with a laugh.

"What?"

"Mmf nnnin ffmmm h efffnn mmm," the other mumbled.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," the left chided.

"Mmm nnn hhhhlk iffff m mmmuffffu."

"Well we're not getting anywhere like this," Sarah sighed and moved over, pulling the ring out of the skinny knocker's mouth.

"What were you saying?" the deaf one asked.

"Ah! Oh ugh umm umm oh," the knocker stretch his lips, "it is so good to get that thing out."

"Tell me something I don't know," Sarah chuckled.

"I said, it's no good asking him, he's deaf as a post."

"What?"

"Mumble, mumble, mumble, you're a wonderful conversational companion," the deaf one chided.

"You can talk, all you do is moan!"

"No good, can't hear ya."

The skinny one sighed.

"Wait a minute, this isn't real, you're just part of Ludo's memories," Sarah realized, stepping back.

"What?" the deaf on called.

"Search me, we're just the knockers," the normally mute one said with a laugh.

"So then," Sarah pointed to the one on the right, "Ludo and I passed through you, so if I did that then logically the memory would simply continue. But if I go through the other door."

"Huh?"

"Knock and the door will be opened."

Sarah grasped the deaf doorknocker's ring, swing it with a loud clang again the metal plate. Another black void, the fairy flew ahead jingling like Christmas bells and vanishing, Sarah followed, the voice of the knocker complaining fading away behind her.

Everything was dark, Sarah eyes taking their time to adjust to her new surroundings of rocks lit only by the faint light of the jingling fairy. "It's the oubliette," Sarah realized after a moment, with a sigh she flumped against the rocks. "Except that Ludo wasn't with me in the oubliette, so is this another memory or something else altogether?"

"Come now, what did Hoggle tell you about oubliettes," said the voice in Sarah's head.

"Oubliettes, there a place where you put people to forget about them."

"No, the other one."

"Oubliettes… the Labyrinth is full of them."

"Precisely," the silvery voice whispered into Sarah's ear.

Sarah squeaked, jumping away, she'd been certain that the voice was her own internalized. "Who are you?" Sarah asked, gazing up at the auburn haired woman with a cheeky smile and her hands on her hips.

"My, you are a cute one," she bent down slightly, smirking at Sarah, "I thought those three might have been overlooking your flaws, but it doesn't seem like they've idealized you beyond reason."

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, "Who are you?"

"Ludo was very good at landing you near the gateway to my mind, but then he always had the best instincts for Labyrinth magic," she stood again, the fairy immediately coming to land on her shoulder, "and my little one took you the rest of the way."

"Well now you just look like Peter Pan," Sarah said.

"Oh, come on Sarah Williams, you had it a moment ago," the woman teased.

"You're the labyrinth, aren't you?"

"That's a good girl, a sharp mind and you might just make it through this."

"How can I see you, aren't I in your mind?"

"I'm only a thing that exists in the mind, Sarah," the Labyrinth replied a little coldly, "most see me only as bricks and tunnels." She extended a hand and lifted Sarah to her feet, the same cocky smile across her lips.

"So then, what am I supposed to do now?" Sarah asked.

"We have to get you to Jareth's mind, his thoughts are scattered, and his mind in disrepair." The Labyrinth opened a passage in the stone.

"How did all this happen?"

"Nerzel, human magic and goblin magic don't mix well, Nerzel decided to seal Jareth's magic, instead he sealed a piece of Jareth's mind. The two remained balanced until Jareth divided himself again to create Ludo, now part of Jareth sleeps within the crystal. The other Jareth I have sent to sleep to avoid interference."

"So what can I do?"

"Wake the entrapped Jareth, if he recombines with Ludo then their strength can challenge the third."

"When did we get to the garden?" Sarah asked, they hadn't climbed any stairs, actually they'd barely moved at all.

"I move the corridors as I please, I thought, this would be a nicer place to stroll."

"Okay, just because I'm curious, I've been hearing a tone of rumours about you listening to the goblin king, you're probably the best source."

"It is a precarious relationship, I hear the requests of the people, but my memories are the thoughts of my king, and now I've three, I can't continue like this," the Labyrinth took Sarah's hand, "now when I'm fighting to preserve the dreams of all the goblins in order to revive them, I'm at my limits."

"Why me?" Sarah asked.

"No goblin can, they are the inner being realized, they simply don't have the internal magic to walk this plane, besides, I believe Jareth will respond to your presence."

"Because he loves me," Sarah looked down at her shoes.

"Don't look so depressed, he does not expect anything from you, if you were to vanish from his life he would accept it well enough, it may be better if you think of it in the way you love your Toby."

"But he _loves_ me," Sarah said stopping and facing the Labyrinth head on, "not like a family member, but like… I've seen it…"

"He will not act upon it in a way that will burden you," the Labyrinth said coldly, "after this, you will return home; he will stay and continue to rule, he is weak with you here, but that is all."

"How can you be so cold?" Sarah asked.

"What? You plan on staying?" the Labyrinth asked sharply, Sarah remained silent, "Don't pretend that you will ease his pain if you won't. This is it, the door we are looking for," the Labyrinth said smoothly.

Sarah stared at it in confusion, "The bog of eternal stench?" Sarah hadn't noticed when they'd reached it, not even by the smell, then she realized that she couldn't smell it, the bog had no scent here.

"This is as far as I can go," the Labyrinth said, "my little fairy friend will go with you, but she can only lead you back to me if you get lost, she can use her magic once, but only once, before she is extinguished, choose the moment wisely."

"If goblins are inner selves, what are the fairies?"

"Fairies are dreams in the human world, which is why their life-spans are so short, shorter still while time here moved at the same rate as your world. If the dark Jareth wins, if I am extinguished, so are they, and so is the human ability to perceive during sleep."

"That's a lot riding on Jareth's ability to respond to me."

"Go," the Labyrinth instructed, and the fairy flew down into the sick brownish waters. Sarah looked out into the mess with a grimace, stepping in, the water was disturbingly warm, filling even her socks as her feet pressed against something gooey at the bottom, which suddenly gave way.

There was that same jingling, the Christmas bells, Sarah's eyes fluttered open, and went wide, standing she turned around slowly. Everything was gorgous, radiant, and not what she'd been expecting, flowers of very color shape and scent. Then laughter, "Toby?" her chest tightened, more laughter, this time Sarah could tell that it wasn't Toby's, similar sounding, but not quite Toby. Moving towards the sound she swerved through bushes, "What is this, the hedge maze?" she asked arbitrarily and then froze.

Standing before her was a beautiful woman with long black curls, pale and perfect skin enhanced by a silver dress and a handful of the rainbow flowers, a silver flowered tiara, frozen like a statue. Sarah became painfully aware of her plain features; skin marked by regularly sun exposure. Then the woman started moving, not anything spectacular just breathing, brushing her hair from her face, and then the laughter, the silver haired boy, who looked about the same age as Toby came rushing forward.

"This one's a Fire Daisy right?"

"Why yes it is Jareth," the woman said with a smiled, and handed him the bright red flower, freezing again as the boy turned and ran away, laughing.

"Jareth," Sarah was still, that was Jareth? How could that be Jareth, Jareth was a full grown man, this was just a little boy. The woman started moving again, changing positions with a jump as the young Jareth ran towards her again.

"I brought you a Midnight Lily, those are your favourites," Jareth said as she had handed him the dark blue flower

"And which ones are your favourites?" the woman asked, bending down and putting her around Jareth's waist.

"I like Dragon blossoms," Jareth said happily, especially when they're breathing smoke.

"Do I get any Dragon blossoms in my bouquet?"

"No, they're stinky," he said and wiggled from her arm hold, dashing off again.

"Jareth!" Sarah called, "Jareth," she chased, following the boy brushing leaves with his fingertips, stopping only as he found placed the blue flower on a bush. "Jareth," Sarah said, as she placed her hand on the boy's shoulder, almost surprised that her fingers reached something solid.

He turned, his blue eyes widened, and he softly said, "Who are you?"

Sarah felt like she'd been punched in the gut, "Jareth, it's Sarah," nothing, "Sarah Williams… You took my baby brother and made me run the Labyrinth!"

"Father is always busy with runners, he never gets a chance to play," for a moment he sunk, his eyes flickering from his sharp piercing blue to wide pupils that almost made them look brown, then they flickered back and h smiled, "I've gotta go, I'm bringing mother flowers."

He dashed past her, Sarah followed with uncertainty, this was probably just a memory, indeed the beautiful woman moved and stopped as Jareth saw her. He took another flower, a gold and pink one.

"It's a Goldenlover," he smiled, "How many more flowers do you want?"

"It a good bouquet already Jareth," she smiled, "You just bring me however many you want to."

"I'll bring you one of every flower in the Labyrinth," he laughed and started to run away with the last flower.

It didn't make sense nothing was in order, and if this was a memory, then it should have been like in Ludo's head. Memories shouldn't be able to interact outside of what's already happened, so then what happened when Jareth didn't recognize her was real. For a moment her chest tightened, Jareth had forgotten her, why did that idea seem so painful?

"Jareth," Sarah called as he ran back.

"Moon gardenia," he took the flower from his mother.

"Jareth, what are you doing?"

"I'm making mother a bouquet," he said as he put the flower back.

"How can you be making a bouquet if you're putting the flowers back?"

"I'm not putting them back silly, I just brought mom a spider rose," he ran back to the queen.

"Do you like the spider flower?" he asked, and the woman handed him the white rose with angular petals that made a spider web pattern.

"It's lovely Jareth," he laughed, carrying the flower away.

"No, Jareth, stop, you're moving backwards."

"Don't be silly," he replied, as he place it on the bush.

"No, Jareth," she grabbed him, "you know me, but you don't know me yet, so we have to move forward." Sarah plucked the flower from the bush and put it in his hands.

"Mother loves spider roses," he said and started carrying the rose off, with Sarah following in step. He reached the queen and handed her the flower. "Do you like the spider flower?" he asked.

"It's lovely Jareth," she replied, then she moved to hand it back to Jareth.

"A moon gardenia," Sarah said leaning over him, "go get your mother a moon gardenia."

"Okay," Jareth smiled, leaving the spider rose in the woman's hand and running through the Labyrinth to where he'd gotten it, and bringing it back to her.

"Moon gardenia," he said as he told his mother, running back to her, this time dashing away again without any flower, then he grabbed Sarah's sleeve playfully, "Come on, I have to get Mom a Goldenlover, she told me that father made it just for her."

It was a lot like Toby dragging her to and fro in the park, she found herself examining Jareth's face as the boy grabbed the biggest flower on the bush. It wasn't nearly as round as Toby's face, more slender, and his eyes had softness to them, despite being a shocking shade of blue, almost like his eyes were older than the rest of him, then again, they probably were.

"It's a Goldenlover," he smiled, handing his mother the flower, "how many more flowers do you want?"

"It's a good bouquet already Jareth, you just bring me as many flowers as you want to."

"I'll bring you one of every flower in the Labyrinth," Jareth assured her and grabbed Sarah's sleeve again.

"Let's get her a Midnight Lily next, they're mother's favourite," Jareth beamed, tugging on Sarah's sleeve.

"Why does your mother need all these flowers?"

"Mother says that flowers are fourth most favourite things in the whole Labyrinth, I'm first, father's second, fairies are third, and flowers are fourth."

"But why does she need flowers today?"

"Mother always puts flowers in the middle of the table, and today we're having an extra special dinner party," he said, and pulled Sarah into the dining room. There the bouquet that he'd been presumably gathering was sitting in three huge bouquets across the lengthy table, there must have been hundreds of them, each different and gorgeous.

Sarah stared, a little prompting and Jareth's memories had hopped forward, if getting Jareth to remember her might not be too hard. However even if she managed to do that, she had to hope that it was something that would help in the long run.


	2. Time Warp

**Dream Within a Dream  
**

* * *

A/N: Okay, this chapter took a long time to put up, even when it was finished. I hate to admit it but I kinda forgot about it. Well, it's up now. Enjoy.

**

* * *

Chapter Two**

**Time Warp**

* * *

Sarah was momentarily awestruck by the splendour of the grand dining room. In retrospect the equivalent space that Sarah had used during her imprisonment had seemed so cold dark and lifeless. What brought Sarah back to the reality of her situation, if it could be called that, was Jareth's hand slipping away from her. Sarah wasn't sure when the goblin prince had changed from his relaxed play clothes to the uptight looking formal wear, but he stood next to the queen rigid as a tin soldier.

"What's going on Jareth?" Sarah asked, following after him, well aware now that only he could see her.

"Guests are coming," he whispered almost cautiously, "I have to behave myself," his gaze did not move to Sarah as he spoke, and her eyes followed his to the door, to the goblin king.

Nerzel, Jareth's father, the family resemblance was apparent, albeit the stark whiteness of Nerzel's hair made Jareth's seem very yellow, and the ice blue of his eyes made Jareth's seem so warm. Soon the guests of every shape size and colour poured in, and Sarah could just make out the King's greetings echoed in Jareth's mutterings.

Sarah couldn't resist smiling; everything the little Jareth did seemed irrevocably precious, so diligently rehearsing his place in life. It was hard to imagine the boy before her ever becoming the cruel and flamboyant dictator she'd met on that raining night. But even so, as the guests began moving to their seats, Sarah realized the need to keep going. The prompt was a simple one, "Jareth, what are you doing tomorrow?"

He wrinkled his nose, "Lessons." Suddenly Sarah was sitting at a desk in the library, relatively unchanged, except that in the place of the piano was now a blackboard. The teacher seemed to be going over the history of the goblin kingdom, although Sarah wasn't quite certain as most of the teacher's talking was literally reduced to a nondescript sound almost like adults from Charlie Brown. "I hate lessons," Jareth stated what was already quite obvious.

"Well, what are you doing tomorrow?" Sarah tried, noticing Jareth's clothes change as the surroundings remained the same. Jareth let his head fall to the desk, and Sarah sighed, for the first time she couldn't align the young Jareth with her memories of Toby. Toby wasn't in school, wasn't experienced enough to be disillusioned by the arduous nature of school. But despite his appearances Jareth wasn't an eager pre-schooler, Sarah knew that much from reading her book too many times. Goblins were ageless, living near eternities and never aging, Jareth as a half-goblin was an exception to that rule, but he was definitely older than he appeared.

However, he couldn't be blamed for not liking class, Sarah could remember many days where the only worthwhile portion of school was drama class. Then Sarah smiled, "Do you have a favourite subject?"

Jareth's head lifted a playful smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, "Art!"

Sarah found herself in Jareth's bedroom, or at least she assumed it was, being a messy play pen of a room with a bed. Jareth stood in the middle, painting a still life of a pile of toys. The picture was amazingly realistic, "Jareth, it's amazing…"

"Yep, I like paint, it's wet and drippy and messy."

"Paint… it's not ink it's paint," Sarah muttered, "Jareth, how old are you right now?"

Jareth puzzled, "Forty… five… I think… mother keeps track better than I do."

Fifty was the age that Kaiaraki had said Jareth developed his ink magic; Sarah had to try at least, "Jareth, I know it may seem a long way off, but, what are you going to do for your fiftieth birthday?"

Jareth put down his paintbrush, suddenly they'd relocated to the throne room, a large pile of presents growing in the middle of the room. This was a celebration of the goblins born of children, and the hordes of them scampered around the laughter filled room. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for Sarah to indulge in a party, "Hey Jareth, which of these is your favourite present?"

In another blink all the presents were opened, each one strange and unusual, except for one, a small silver box in Jareth's hands. The guests were gone, or sleeping in random alcoves, only Jareth and his mother, and Sarah if she counted, were up. Lifting the silver handled paintbrush from its box, he turned, beaming, hugging his mother without a word. Then he turned towards Sarah, "I wanna show you something," Jareth said happily, grabbing Sarah's hand and pulling her away. This jump he did on his own, they were back in his room, "I can't find my paints," he complained, pulling away and ransacking his own room, "I wanted to draw a tree." Then Jareth went to his bed and found a crystal ball in the sheets, "I'm not very good," he explained to Sarah, but he clasped the crystal hopefully, "I would like green paint please."

Sarah stared as the crystal ball was suddenly rolling in green paint, and Jareth began drawing a tree, then brown paint as he moved to the trunk, black for details, until he stepped back from the canvas. "What do you think?" Jareth asked, putting the now clear crystal back onto the bed.

"It's real," Sarah looked at the very three dimensional tree that now stood in the middle of Jareth's room.

"Wow!" Jareth brightened, "I really performed magic, I have to go get father, he'll be so proud," Jareth said, but in that moment both his parents were there, both looking at the tree. Sarah blinked, this time he had jumped forward on his own.

"It's amazing Jareth," his mother said and reached her arms around her son affectionately, "can you show me how you did it?"

"I'll add apples," Jareth said happily,

Nerzel was much less positive, he didn't say a word, his ice blue eyes seemed to evaluate Jareth's motions. Sarah paused at this, since this was a memory and not an actual event, it was possible that Nerzel's face wasn't nearly this critical. This was simply how Jareth remembered his father. Somehow that made it worse, Jareth was expecting his father to be proud, and if this was the face that he remembered.

"It's beautiful Jareth," his mother said, beaming with pride.

Nerzel looked angry, he grabbed one of the apples and turned to Jareth, "Never do this again. Do you understand?" his voice was critical and Sarah watched Jareth shrink. "Do you understand?" he demanded.

"Yes father," Jareth said in a gasp, Sarah could hear the tears he was holding back. "Art is dumb," Jareth said, his parents disappearing as he curled into a ball. "I hit my art teacher, so I'm not allowed to come to supper," he'd made another jump, presumably the consequences of using the magic paint, now he glared at the tree.

Sarah was at a loss for words, when Jareth's eyes turned towards her again, "What now Sarah?"

She gasped, just slightly, when he said her name, his piercing eyes searching for her guidance. This boy, he was nothing like Jareth, but somehow he was, Sarah could hear the beginning of the Goblin King's silky lilt. "Did you use your magic paint again?"

The young Jareth's face was full of shame now, but he stood with a crystal in hand facing his creation. "It caused all the trouble, if it's gone things will go back to normal," he placed the crystal at the roots and stepped back. "Summoning fire with a crystal is a simple matter of concentration," he said, and Sarah lost track of how long he'd just stood there. "Summoning fire is a simple matter of concentration," he said again, and reached for the crystal.

Eyes wide, Sarah had to move to reverse the pattern, "So you used the paint." Brush in hand, Jareth and Sarah watched the tree burn, and after a moment the boy wrapped himself around her legs, holding her tightly, and crying silently.

"Must've worn off," Jareth said with a smile in front of his father's desk, the same office that Jareth used now.

"I suppose so," Nerzel replied absently, pulling open a desk drawer, to retrieve another pot of ink for his work.

Suddenly he was sitting next to his mother, "If I'm supposed to learn magic why aren't I allowed to use the magic paint?"

"There are lots of kinds of magic, Jareth," his mother cooed, "Your father wants you to learn good magic, that isn't dangerous."

"But it's hard."

"Most things in life are, learning something hard makes you a better person, and a better king."

"A better king? Father is the king."

"And if you learn the magic that your teacher instructs you on then one day you will be king."

"How will I know, when I'm king?"

"The Labyrinth, it is one with the king and once you are ready you will meet her like your father did before you."

"You're learning magic?" Sarah asked, she remembered Kaiah having mentioned an explosion of magic; it could have been Jareth's.

"He started me on formal lessons," Jareth said, looking at Sarah in their changed location. It was the tower, the display case was still there, this time lined with spell books.

"Roll your crystal around yourself in a circle without touching it, until I return," the professor said.

"You're really good," Sarah complimented him, watching the crystal.

"If you think that's cool," Jareth brightened, he looked at Sarah with a mischievous smirk, and she froze. For the first time he looked like the Goblin King that she was familiar with, not to mention the fact that he had clearly aged a little, such a small thing got such a strong response. He headed to the display case and flipped open to a random page, "Rain Dance," he read the name out loud. "It's a highly advanced spell," he smirked again, standing, he filled his palms with an almost clear paint, but it had hints of blue. Then he threw it all in the air before moving the droplets around the room expertly, his eyes focussed more on Sarah's approval. Her eyes were wide indeed, but focussed less on the movement of the beads and more on his eyes, his pupils were no longer small, but large. This was his human magic, the part of Jareth that had been locked away into Jareth Black.

"Your father told you not to… so why are you practicing this kind of magic?"

Jareth blushed, some of his age melting away as the scenery changed again. Another jump back, hopefully Sarah could move it forward again, before too long.

"Entertain it," Nerzel's voice came from behind, and Sarah spun around to look at the little girl that Jareth's father had unceremoniously dropped in the middle of the room. The attending goblins laughed, as Nerzel left the room in a flurry. A little girl, wished away, and the goblins were looking at her with a look of crazed hunger in their eyes.

"Leave her alone," Jareth snapped, authoritatively stepping past Sarah into the middle of the room. "I shall entertain our guest, you can return to your normal duties," he said, and bent down next to her. "Sorry if they scared you…" Sarah crouched next to him and watched the girl turn to him with a sweet smile that was missing a tooth. In another blink Jareth and she were both laughing, sitting with paper and some less magical paints.

"Look, I drew a unicorn," she said, lifting up her page, and showing the scribble to Jareth who smiled warmly. "I wish I could see a real unicorn," she said, kicking her legs happily.

Jareth paused, debating to himself, "Then I'll show you one," he said, and ran to his toy chest, pulling out his silver paintbrush. It didn't take long for a very real, if small, unicorn to be standing in front of the delighted little girl.

"Thank you Jareth," she said sweetly and leaned over giving the goblin prince a light kiss.

"Aaaaw," Sarah couldn't hold in her adoration for the moment any longer, "puppy love is so cute."

"I'm in love with Grizzle," Jareth said stubbornly, older again, and standing before his father's desk, "and I'm going to marry her."

"I forbid it," Nerzel said easily, "you neither know what you want, nor are you old enough to make that decision."

"Mother got married when she was twenty-five," Jareth snapped.

"Your mother is human."

"So am I!" Jareth yelled back, and Sarah gasped, his hair was turning black.

"Let's go," Jareth grabbed her hand, and Sarah whirled to see a second Jareth with his normal hair color pulling her away. "I don't like this part."

"What happened to Grizzle?"

"Many happy days," Jareth said, walking through memories now like photographs. Grizzle was her goblin name, the name of a creature not nearly so sweet and cute, but they played together. Many memories were of him showing off his human magic, painting eyeballs onto moss patches. And Jareth aged, while Grizzle did not. From the brief glances of his memories, Grizzle was easily bored. "I'm never falling in love again," Jareth yelled angrily into his pillow, as Sarah found herself again in his bedroom.

"But you will," Sarah said almost wistfully, her thoughts distracted with her own memories.

Suddenly Jareth was once again older, quite a bit older, he now had to be at least ten by human standards. He was leaning over a crystal, sitting in amongst a circle of goblins, "A runner?" Sarah realized as she looked into the glass, watching the girl fall into a dark oubliette. The goblin horde hooted and hollered, but not Jareth.

"It's not fair," he said softly, making Sarah jump before handing the crystal away and moving across the room, then turned back, "Sarah, I'm going to try a teleportation spell, are you coming?"

"Yes," Sarah said quickly, reaching for the hand he offered, with a determination in his face that matched his future self.

Suddenly there was darkness, and Jareth, landing on his face with a distinctive 'Oomph!'

"Is someone there!" a young girl's voice called.

"Um, yes," Jareth muttered, filling his palm with some glowing paint that lit the small room, "I'm… Jareth…"

"I'm Hayley," she replied, brushing aside her auburn hair.

Three hours Jareth spent using his human magic to guide Hayley through the Labyrinth, helping her reach her goal, thus fulfilling the requirements to allow her to go home. These were more memories that Jareth whisked through, until he was once again yelling into his pillow, "I'm so stupid! She was supposed to stay!"

"Jareth," Sarah whispered softly.

"I have to see her," Jareth said decidedly, jumping off his bed, and trying to open a portal suddenly the room started swimming, and Jareth stumbled, falling onto all fours, and vomiting.

"Jareth!" Sarah gasped, moving over to the boy's side.

"I can't do it," he curled into a ball, "the Labyrinth won't let me out…"

"The Labyrinth," Sarah muttered, suddenly hearing Christmas bells. It was the fairy, Sarah had completely forgotten about her when she'd first heard Jareth laugh. Somewhere in Jareth's mind, nearby at the moment, the fairy, the only magic Sarah had, wandered. Sarah looked at Jareth, curled up in his ball upset, and turned in the direction she heard the sound. Who knew what would happen if she left Jareth now. Who knew what would happen if the fairy remained lost when she was needed.

"If I can't go to Hayley, then I'll make Hayley come to me," Jareth said with determination, reaching under his pillow and grabbing the silver paintbrush.

"Jareth," Sarah brushed aside the fairy for a moment, "how on Earth are you going to get Hayley to come to you?"

"I'll draw her…" Jareth said, moving to his wall, and painting the young girl, auburn hair bright eyes.

The girl stepped away from the wall, looking at Jareth with wide eyes. The sound of the Christmas bells grew louder.

"Hayley," Jareth said with a smile.

"No," the girl replied, "and you are not Nerzel."

"The Labyrinth," Sarah gasped, looking at the girl, who was most certainly a younger version of the woman she talked to. Then surprisingly the woman turned to her and smiled, the fairy climbing out from the Labyrinth's hair, and fluttering, Christmas bells ringing over to Sarah. The fairy sat happily on Sarah's shoulder.

"You're the Labyrinth?" Jareth asked.

"Yes, my king," she replied softly.

Suddenly Nerzel burst into the room, his face pale, his eyes blazing, "Jareth!" he roared, "What have you done?"

"Wha-what? I didn't-" Jareth gasped.

"Jareth can't be king yet," Sarah muttered, "he's not old enough, and Nerzel is still alive."

"I told you not to use your magic," the king raged, "your teacher thought you froze up when he was watching, but you were using forbidden magic all this time."

"Father I-"

"It's time this ends," Nerzel snapped.

Suddenly everything went dark, except the light of the fairy.

"Jareth!" Sarah called, nothing, his mind was blank, empty, dead.


	3. Would Be King and announcement

A/N: Alright, this isn't a proper update. This is just how far I got before total writer's block took control of the story. I've realized that leaving it on a cliffhanger sucks, and I really didn't intend to leave it there, but it just isn't moving forward (kind of ironic, huh). Although I have other projects I want to prioritize right now, when I do return to this story I will pull a Jareth and go back to rewrite the first two parts before continuing. My writing style has changed too much for me to be satisfied with my old work.

Until then I hope you find your Labyrinth fix satisfied elsewhere, and I invite you to read my work in other fandoms.

* * *

Chapter Three

Would-Be King

"This isn't possible, Jareth can't be dead, he lived, I've met him when he was older," the fairy jingled on her shoulder. "Unless… there was some way for him to die outside of his memories…"Sarah coaxed the fairy into her palms, debating on her source of magic, no point making her wish when she had no idea what was going on. "Take me back to the Labyrinth," she told the fairy after a moment, following the jingling light until she suddenly stepped back into the bog eternal stench.

"Hello again," the silvery voice of the Labyrinth spoke in Sarah's ear, the fairy jingling all the way back into her true mistress' hair.

"What just happened? You were there, in Jareth's mind."

"Our minds cross many times, that was the first, Jareth's consciousness has reached a place that I can hear him again, thank you."

"You called Jareth your king."

"He was, for that brief moment the complete Jareth was the true Goblin King."

"How?" Sarah pleaded.

" Jareth's far more powerful than his father, because he has both human magic and goblin magic, and the Goblin King is always the most powerful. Kings have retired when they've found a goblin with magic stronger than their own, or if their successor is weaker then the King must die before a new one takes his reign."

"What happened to Jareth?"

"Nerzel divided his magic, separating the human magic to remain king and so Jareth would learn magic properly. Nerzel wanted to release Jareth's human magic when he was ready, he died before that happened, and the secret would remain between the king, myself, and the fairies."

"I need to get back to him, his mind was just, empty."

"You stepped into the other one."

"You mean… I was inside Jareth Black?"

"His mind is less active unconscious."

"How will I get back to Jareth White?"

The Labyrinth shook her hair, scaring out the fairy again, "I know you're tired, but you've work to do. Should you need me Sarah… once Jareth's mind reconnects fully, once he is king, you can call me into his mind."

Christmas bells jingled and the fairy once again dove into the muck, Sarah quickly tumbling afterwards, as the bog fell away.

"Watch your form, young master," a voice called. Sarah paused, Jareth had gotten older since she disappeared into the other Jareth's mind, and now he brandished a sword, facing his opponent. "I'll not have a king who can't hold his own in a fight," the voice again, Sarah looked to the stands, as did Jareth for a moment as the cat-goblin moved, just for a moment, catching Sarah's attention. Rough unkempt fur, and nothing other than a belt full of knives for clothing as she watched from the fence. Unfortunately that one moment Jareth looked away from his opponent also got him bashed in the face with the hilt of a sword.

"Dammit Kai, how am I supposed to fight with you yelling at me every three seconds?"

"Everyone yells all the time in the heat of battle, young master!"

The fairy jingled, grabbing a lock of Sarah's hair to pull her back to the matter at hand, Jareth. Sarah didn't want to interrupt the sword fight, there was no way Jareth could be killed by a memory, just with a task that took so much concentration, there was no telling what might happen. "Hello, Jareth," Sarah called lightly when the opponent was down.

"Sarah," Jareth said, pulling off the protective helmet he wore, "I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever see you again." The memory had paused, frozen.

"Well," Sarah looked at him curiously, "here I am."

"I think I'm a little too old now for imaginary friends," he chided, almost as though he was telling Sarah off.

"I'm not imaginary," Sarah countered.

"Oh, then what are you if I'm the only one who notices you?"

Sarah looked at him puzzling, what would happen if she told him the truth? "I'm not the thing you're imagining, I'm real, but you're reliving memories, and your kingdom needs you."

"Don't be silly, the kingdom has my father Nerzel, it doesn't need a prince who can barely handle his footwork." Jareth replaced his helmet and turned back to the fight, his memories resuming.

"You can barely handle your footwork let alone that blade!" the goblin yelled.

"I know!" Jareth raged back, until Sarah caught his shoulders, pausing the memory.

"If I was imaginary your opponent would trounce you while you were thinking of me, I am real, you just have to find me, but to help you get there, I need to catch up. I have to know, what happened to Hayley?"

"Hayley," Jareth drooped, for a moment Sarah bit her lip waiting for him to revert back, instead he pushed forward, "I thought she would've called me, figured out what she needed to do, but I guess I wasn't important to her… she grew up, that's all. Funny isn't it, it doesn't work out when they grow up, but it doesn't work out when they do."


End file.
